Comments on: Whip It Good! http://www.pinkraygun.com/2009/10/14/whip-it-good/ "Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!" - Kaylee Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:54:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: AlphaGirl http://www.pinkraygun.com/2009/10/14/whip-it-good/comment-page-1/#comment-40303 AlphaGirl Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:52:41 +0000 http://www.pinkraygun.com/?p=12187#comment-40303 I also loved this movie because. . . . Everyone hates Jimmy Fallon. I can’t stand the guy. It was gratifying to see him as a skeevy, creepy guy no one wanted around. Normal sized girls. Not Hollywood normal sized. Real world normal sized. Juliette Lewis, who is willowy as always, looked emaciated next to the rest of the cast. Rather than the usual parade of size 0 to 2, this was a parade of real women. I also loved this movie because. . . .

Everyone hates Jimmy Fallon. I can’t stand the guy. It was gratifying to see him as a skeevy, creepy guy no one wanted around.

Normal sized girls. Not Hollywood normal sized. Real world normal sized. Juliette Lewis, who is willowy as always, looked emaciated next to the rest of the cast. Rather than the usual parade of size 0 to 2, this was a parade of real women.

]]> By: AlphaGirl http://www.pinkraygun.com/2009/10/14/whip-it-good/comment-page-1/#comment-40302 AlphaGirl Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:50:46 +0000 http://www.pinkraygun.com/?p=12187#comment-40302 I love love love Whip It! It's been criticized for being nothing more than a garden variety sports movie, but there's a biiig difference: chicks. In sports movies, women are usually the cheerleader, the love interest, or the cheerleader love interest (or the naysayer who loses her sporty man to the cheerleader love interest). When the gals are the athletes, it’s usually a movie like Bring It On, Stick It, or Ice Castles. (BTW, Teresa, Stick It Like Beckham And Bring It On! made me snort) Girly girls doing appropriately girly sports. Of course, there are a few I can think of: Bend It Like Beckham, A League of Their Own, Million Dollar Baby, Girlfight. (No, I don’t count Love & Basketball because it’s more about the love than the basketball). With the exception of Bend It, I can’t really say that the rest of the movies are all that encouraging of the idea of women in sports. Observe: Girlfight: must choose between boxing and boyfriend boxer’s ego Million Dollar Baby: paralyzed, used by family, then dies A League of Their Own: played for a short time, then settled down into traditional female roles Oh, yes. I have more to say. . . . I love love love Whip It! It's been criticized for being nothing more than a garden variety sports movie, but there's a biiig difference: chicks.

In sports movies, women are usually the cheerleader, the love interest, or the cheerleader love interest (or the naysayer who loses her sporty man to the cheerleader love interest). When the gals are the athletes, it’s usually a movie like Bring It On, Stick It, or Ice Castles. (BTW, Teresa, Stick It Like Beckham And Bring It On! made me snort) Girly girls doing appropriately girly sports.

Of course, there are a few I can think of: Bend It Like Beckham, A League of Their Own, Million Dollar Baby, Girlfight. (No, I don’t count Love & Basketball because it’s more about the love than the basketball). With the exception of Bend It, I can’t really say that the rest of the movies are all that encouraging of the idea of women in sports. Observe:

Girlfight: must choose between boxing and boyfriend boxer’s ego
Million Dollar Baby: paralyzed, used by family, then dies
A League of Their Own: played for a short time, then settled down into traditional female roles

Oh, yes. I have more to say. . . .

]]> By: Robin http://www.pinkraygun.com/2009/10/14/whip-it-good/comment-page-1/#comment-40251 Robin Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:05:52 +0000 http://www.pinkraygun.com/?p=12187#comment-40251 I enjoyed <i>Whip It</i> quite a lot. And I agree that Barrymore has some growing to do as a director, but the low-budget student-film-y feel worked pretty well for this story. But Juliette Lewis gives good crazy, and Marcia Gay Harden was beautifully complex as a faded-beauty-queen-cum-working-mom. And Ellen Page was adorable, tough, and vulnerable as ever. Sadly, it was the men who I felt suffered from two-dimensionality. I wasn't a big fan of emo!boyfriend and his too-tight jeans, especially when he got Bliss to jump in the pool in her boots. (Chlorine can't be good for leather, and how the heck did she get them off once the laces were all wet?) I was glad to see him get the heave-ho. Daniel Stern was a bit too stereotypical as the out-of-shape scared-of-his-wife dad. Jimmy Fallon was... well, the same old Jimmy Fallon, but his part wasn't much to begin with. Even though they were secondary and tertiary characters, I would've liked to see more nuanced writing and performances. Still, it's cute and fun and has girlfighting, so there's definitely more good than bad. I'll be keeping an eye out for the DVD. I enjoyed Whip It quite a lot. And I agree that Barrymore has some growing to do as a director, but the low-budget student-film-y feel worked pretty well for this story. But Juliette Lewis gives good crazy, and Marcia Gay Harden was beautifully complex as a faded-beauty-queen-cum-working-mom. And Ellen Page was adorable, tough, and vulnerable as ever.

Sadly, it was the men who I felt suffered from two-dimensionality. I wasn't a big fan of emo!boyfriend and his too-tight jeans, especially when he got Bliss to jump in the pool in her boots. (Chlorine can't be good for leather, and how the heck did she get them off once the laces were all wet?) I was glad to see him get the heave-ho. Daniel Stern was a bit too stereotypical as the out-of-shape scared-of-his-wife dad. Jimmy Fallon was… well, the same old Jimmy Fallon, but his part wasn't much to begin with. Even though they were secondary and tertiary characters, I would've liked to see more nuanced writing and performances.

Still, it's cute and fun and has girlfighting, so there's definitely more good than bad. I'll be keeping an eye out for the DVD.

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